Scarlet Snowfall
by AbsoluteAddiction-x
Summary: My entry for the Nihon-Go! Forum Fanfiction Competition January 2010 If only he'd been there, maybe things would have been different. // The title has hardly any relevance or meaning, i merely suck at titles


**Just a little one-shot I wrote for the Nihon-GO! Forum Fanfiction Competition January 2010. [Link on my profile]**

**I guess it's kind of depressing in a way, but if you squint, you may be able to imagine some romance XD**

**DISCLAIMER: Although I enjoy imagining the Night Class boys and Zero as my manservants, I am aware that I don't own them or any of the Vampire Knight franchise.**

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_Kaname-sama…_

He shouldn't be here.

There were a million other places that he could be – that he should be; yet he was here.

He could have been walking through town, looking for a gift for her; not for any reason, just because he wanted to show her a small token of his affections for her. Gifts she would, of course, refuse at first but eventually accept, earning him a glimpse at the child-like joy that he adored so much in her when she lifted the lid of the box.

He could have been listening to her excited chatter, telling him about her day and how she wished he would visit her more often; watching her bustle around fixing tea for him and making sure that he was comfortable, unaware that just her being close to him was more than enough.

He should be with Yuuki.

He should have been with her that night.

His mind was haunted by phantoms of 'what ifs' and spectres of pointing fingers; of guilt. The memories played in his head like a jarred picture-show; playing flashes of images over and over again. _The snow. The footprints. The blood. Her blood._

_Kaname-sama…_

It had been her birthday; she had just turned fourteen, and as he did every year, he was going to visit her. He looked forward to their too-rare meetings more than anything else; he loved seeing her smile and run towards him when he arrived. The first flakes of a new snow were beginning to fall as he gazed absently out of the window of his car. The journey always took too long, and the resulting time too short.

When they pulled up he had wasted no time in hurrying to the door and letting himself in, expecting to be jumped on by the one he had come to see. When this didn't happen he had wandered through and was met by her adoptive father; the look of surprise on his face startled him. _"Isn't Yuuki with you?" _Cross had asked, _"She went to go and wait for you at the bottom of the garden."_

Kaname had wasted no time striding from the house to the end of the garden where he had entered, and had notice the footprints stamped into the fresh snow and leading out of the garden and up the street; too large for Yuuki and unnervingly unfamiliar.

The seed of panic had been planted as he followed the footprints with vampire-speed, eventually turning a corner into a park that he had brought Yuuki on one of their scarce summer visits. It was deserted as everything was becoming blanketed by layers of snow. A muffled scream drew his attention over to the trees that lined the park, and he had been met with an image that would haunt him for the rest of his existence.

Yuuki's head was wrenched back, exposing her neck, into which a vampire had buried his fangs, and had begun drinking hungrily from her. She was restrained and her mouth was covered by the scarf that she had been wearing; her eyes had locked onto him and he could see pure terror in them.

The snow became a blizzard.

Moving with startling speed, even for a vampire, he had crossed the distance between them, wrenched the blood-crazed creature away from her and crushed his heart before the vampire in question could react.

Yuuki fell to the ground, still bleeding profusely, tears staining her face. He had hurried over to her a cradled her in his arms, holding her to him. An overwhelming wall of grief hit him as he realised that there was no time left; that there was nothing he could do. He was too late.

Her skin was ivory, so pale it looked almost luminous, but it was stained with the crimson of her own blood. Her hair was hiding the puncture wounds on her neck from his view - for that he was thankful. The blood that had once deliciously tempted him to the edge of reason now made him sick; it shouldn't have been this way. She was already starting to feel cold in his arms, the light in her eyes beginning to dim. _"Yuuki…"_

She had raised her hand and gently caressed his cheek, before staring him straight in the eyes and whispering her final words with a weak smile; they had been so quiet that they were almost stolen by the wind before he could hear them. But he had heard.

"_Kaname-sama…"_

She had spoken his name.

Her hand fell back to her side, the glitter in her eyes dulled and she didn't move again.

And just like that, the one light in his entire existence had been snuffed out.

He had sat there in the snow for a while and just held her close, allowing traitorous tears to flow freely; he tried to ignore the horrific irony of how similar that night had been to the one so many years earlier. The only difference was that this time, he had been too late. Eventually he raised himself and her up, and began the longest journey of his life. Kaien Cross had been distraught, openly shedding tears of grief and breaking down; Zero, on the other hand hadn't spoken a word. The haunting pain in his eyes as he stared at her limp body was unbearable; it was a combination of denial, fury and absolute sorrow. It had been in that moment that Kaname had fully understood how much Yuuki had meant to the other teen. He had only known Yuuki for such a short time but it was apparent that he had developed a strong emotional bond with her; Zero was the only one who came anywhere close to understanding his pain.

He hadn't paid much attention to the weeks after Yuuki's death; he had done everything he was asked of, but did nothing more. The funeral had come and gone and she had been laid to rest, yet it did nothing to soothe him.

He had visited her every night, spending hours just standing there and gazing at the words that had been etched onto the stone. **Yuuki Cross. Aged 14. Loving daughter and beloved friend. She shall forever be missed.**

The words felt cold and somewhat hollow, nothing like Yuuki at all; she had been warm and cheerful and full of life, always willing to put others before herself. She was compassionate and generous and kind even to those who didn't deserve it. She had been perfect, and no amount of words carved onto a stone could ever capture that.

He bent down and placed the small ring that he had been clutching in his hand nestled beside the gravestone, between the bouquets of flowers that had been placed there. The ring was simple and delicate, a band of white gold and a single stone set as decoration; the stone was the same colour as her eyes as the moonlight shimmered through it.

He had wanted to give her it when she turned sixteen, but now that would never happen.

An unseasonably cold wind caused a few petals to detach from the flowers and dance off on the breeze. He closed his eyes for an immeasurable amount of time before turning away from his beloved's resting place and walking away into the darkness.

Around him it was spring; flowers would bloom and life coloured the landscape, dreams would be made and new love would begin.

But it was, and eternally would be, winter in his heart.

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**Like I said, it was just a quick thing; not my best piece but it did for the competition, and it made do.**

**I may rewrite it at some point in the future if the absolute horribleness of this annoys me excessively.**

**Reviews = Cake for you. And this cake isn't even a lie ;D**

**~Absolute x**


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